The Social Psychology of Cyberspace: Self and Community in the Age of the Internet

PSY 380.K

Miami University
Spring Semester, 2000

Mind in the Machine? The Digital Realm of Computer Consciousness

Kosta Giannoulias, David Linich, Jon Masica, Adam Schaaf

    Our group found interest in the cybernetics article highlighting Kevin Warwick who, by implanting a chip in his arm and conducting several experiments, has made a name for himself as one of the foremost authorities in cybernetics research and development. We would like to look over his work and research this relatively new field of cybernetics. However, because the field of cybernetics has dated back to 1948, we are going to focus our project on specific recent issues raised by Warwick’s and others’ research. More specifically, we would like to explore the notion of computer "consciousness."

    We would need to define and briefly outline the history of cybernetics before we could delve further into the notion of consciousness. After presenting the evolution of computer consciousness, we can address certain contemporary issues pertaining to computer consciousness:

• Is "consciousness" possible? If so, at what level?
• What are the implications of computer consciousness?
• What benefits can this have?
• Are there any efforts by government to block this research or phenomenon from occurring? Should they intervene?
• What are the implications if, instead of remaining limited to the academic arena, the field of computer consciousness were to advance into military and/or political fields?

We have found that due to the newness of this field of research, most of the information will come from the internet or computer-related publications.

Back To Top
Back to Home Page